The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, in the wake of the Pope’s resignation, Andrew articulated the tragedy of Benedict XVI and his failure to restore faith through reason, before asking where the man will end up next. He dug up clips from Hitch’s dogged pursuit of justice against this Herr Ratzinger and his underlings, as well as his own appraisal of Benedict’s “Deus Caritas Est.” Later Andrew noted the outgoing Pope’s disquieting (and suspicious) obsession with homosexuality, wondered why the Pope would duck out at this precise moment, and doubted if we’ll ever know the extent of his involvement with the Church’s cover up of child rape.

Elsewhere, Joseph Komonchak raised the significance of Ratzinger’s leaving rather than dying a Pope and Russell D. Moore applauded his common cause with evangelicals, while George Weigel also found it a strange time to exit stage left. We gathered reax to Benedict’s resignation, from commentators and readers alike, then rounded up thoughts on who might come next, where he might be found, and how he’ll be chosen.

In non-papal news, Bill Becker asked the president to treat global warming as his Great Depression as we tried to pinpoint when Obama’s healthcare law will take a bite of his base. Phil Bronstein traced bin Laden’s demise back to his shooter’s teenage heartache, and marijuana farming devastated the environment in California.

In assorted coverage, Chris Moody filed a must-read on Florida’s rugged hunters and headless pythons, Mathew Ingram called Andrew and Amanda Palmer birds of a feather while Nicholas Carr didn’t grade Google Scholar very generously. Alyssa Rosenberg and Kirby Dick shed light on sexual abuse in the armed forces, David Foster Wallace said a good word for puppy love and Eric Jaffe projected a future without traffic lights.

After VFYW in Clintondale, New York, we quenched our thirst for a MHB, broke out more reader emails on the Dish as a business venture, and spent a moment with a recipient of the Medal of Honor.